Although applicable to any aircraft or spacecraft, the present invention and the problem on which it is based will be explained in greater detail with reference to a passenger aircraft.
A cabin management system for passenger aircraft known internally to the Applicant, also known as a CIDS (cabin intercommunication data system), comprises inter alia a central control device, a bus, coding/decoding devices, passenger electronics, safety-related terminals and flight attendant panels. The data bus transmits safety-related data between the control device and the coding/decoding devices. The data bus typically has a low data rate of approximately 1 to 10 megabits per second, for example in A350 or A380 aircraft. The coding/decoding devices transmit the data for example via the passenger electronics to the safety-related terminals and back again. These terminals are for example a cabin illumination system, a door lock display, an emergency signal display, a no-smoking display, a seatbelt display, etc. These terminals may be controlled by means of the flight attendant panel, for which purpose said panel is connected to the central control device as regards data. For example, the cabin illumination can be switched into on/off/dimmed states. A further safety-related terminal is for example the button, within a passenger's reach, by means of which a flight attendant can be called to the passenger (pax call). Pressing this button triggers a safety-related data stream, which is transmitted via the passenger electronics, the coding/decoding device, the data bus and the control device to the flight attendant panel, whereupon a message about the passenger's call is displayed on the screen of the flight attendant panel. The central control device confirms that said passenger's call has been received at the flight attendant panel, and switches an LED arranged in the button to yellow. For this purpose, safety-related data are transmitted from the flight attendant panel to the button.
The cabin management system has to be present in any aircraft, and for safety reasons, various components of this cabin management system have to be provided in a redundant manner, such as the central control device.
Moreover, aircraft increasingly comprise in-flight entertainment systems for providing the passengers with entertainment programmes. In-flight entertainment systems of this type conventionally comprise a data store, for example in the form or a tape, CD or hard drive, a data bus, and passenger terminals such as screens. Video data stored on the data store are transmitted to the passenger terminals, for displaying the video data, via the data bus, which has a high data rate of for example 100 megabits to 1 gigabit per second.
These two systems, namely the cabin management system and the in-flight entertainment system, are of a significant weight and require a considerable amount of space. The systems also have significant assembly and maintenance costs.